One of the downsides of my canoe building system is that it requires really good bending wood, or does it? One of my students just sent me this picture of a pack canoe that he just finished ribbing with kiln dried white oak. He wrote the following:
“Hey Brian, Just wanted to let you know that I completed ribbing with kiln dried white oak. I found success by soaking the wood in water/ laundry softener for 8 days. M/c – 27-30 percent, steamed for 8 mins.”
I probably wouldn’t try this with nesting canoes because without a support to hold the canoe closed it’s likely this canoe will spring open a little bit, other than that it’s some pretty excellent shaping. Personally I’m gonna keep spending the big $$$ for good bending oak but it’s really cool to see that at least one person was able to make this work. Thanks for the info Richard!
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